Today I got a message from one of my friends in Haiti. His name is Wilson. He is about 19 years old. He had been elated for the last few months because his aunt in New York City said she would bring him to New York to go to college.

Wilson’s parents do not have money to send him to college. He graduated from High School last year, and now he teaches computer classes at his church for free and helps high school students with their assignments. Like many young adults in Haiti he struggles to find a job. There just aren’t many jobs available in Haiti. Some young adults make things like necklaces or paintings to sell to missionary teams. Some work on building a church or home for a few months, but then they are unemployed again. Some try to sell drinks or produce at the market. Some fix motorcycles but it’s not full time. There are very few full-time jobs available in Haiti.

Wilson was so excited when his aunt first told him that he could come to the U.S. because he wants to be a doctor or work with computers. He is very smart and is very good at English. He knew coming to the U.S. meant he would get an education from a very good university and that would increase his chance of staying in the U.S. and getting a good job.

But today his aunt told him that she can’t afford to bring him to the U.S. She just can’t do it. Wilson was devastated. With tears Wilson said to me, “I don’t know what I’m going to do Pastor. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I wake up every day without a way to provide for myself. My parents can’t help me and my two little brothers. I know God is with me. He is the beginning and the end. He is the alpha and the omega. God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He is the Way.”

Wilson faces every day not knowing where his meals will come from for that day. Wilson faces the daily struggle of having huge dreams and not having the resources to pursue any of them. Wilson faces the daily challenge of not being able to provide for himself even as a young man AND YET he trusts God. He turns to God. He believes God will provide a way. He doesn’t know the way that God will provide but he trusts that God will provide the way. Daily he sees people living in poverty, not being able to send their kids to school because they don’t have the tuition money, not being able to feed their children enough, not being able to provide adequately for themselves or for their families AND YET he trusts God. He believes God will make a way.

Do you have a faith like that? Could your faith survive that kind of daily trial?

Saint Paul told us inRomans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” When we trust in God, we will overflow with hope. When we trust in God when things don’t go our way, we receive joy and peace and hope that comes supernaturally from our Heavenly Father. When we trust in God, it keeps us from feeling defeated or hopeless. There is always hope with God.​May we keep trusting in HIM,Pastor Chad Starfeldt